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18 Amazing MLB Stats for the Week of May 13-19

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Highlighting the most important, intriguing and bizarre stats in baseball.

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Matt Cain is giving up bombs, Ryan Howard is wilting in the clutch, James Shields has little to show for his efforts and the consistent Joey Votto just keeps hitting. Here’s this week’s Amazing Stats for May 13-19.<br />
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Matt Cain is giving up bombs, Ryan Howard is wilting in the clutch, James Shields has little to show for his efforts and the consistent Joey Votto just keeps hitting. Here’s this week’s Amazing Stats for May 13-19.

2Games Braves played with best lineup
Atlanta is in first place in the NL East, but the club has played just two games — last Friday and Saturday — with what manager Fredi Gonzalez expected to be his best eight in the field. Catcher Brian McCann has been recovering from shoulder surgery, and right fielder Jason Heyward missed some time after an appendectomy. The Braves won both games.

.050Ryan Howard’s batting average with RISP, two outs
Entering this season, Howard carried a career .268 average with runners in scoring position with two outs. So far in 2013, he’s 1-for-20.

3Teams still perfect this season when leading after six innings
The Texas Rangers blew their first save of the season over the weekend against the Tigers, but won the game anyway to go to 23-0 when leading after six innings. The Yankees (21-0) and Cleveland (19-0) are the other two teams. Coincidence that all three reside in first place?

13Home runs allowed by Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants this season
The total leads the majors and is four more than Cain gave up in all of 2010, when he logged more than 220 innings.

22Percent of the Dodgers’ RBIs driven in by Adrian Gonzalez
Earlier this season, Carl Crawford was responsible for an inordinate high percentage of the Dodgers’ runs. Now Gonzalez shows a similar high percentage of the team’s RBIs. It’s time for Matt Kemp to step up and contribute to the offense.

2Players to hit three homers in a loss twice since 2000
Players have hit three home runs in a losing cause a total of 16 times since 2000. Two players have done it twice. Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers did it for the second time last Sunday night. Sammy Sosa did it twice in 2001.

.583Joey Votto batting average for the week
Quietly and consistently, the Reds’ first baseman shows why he is the best hitter in the National League. He hit .583 last week with a pair of home runs, five RBIs and seven runs. He drew five walks to go with his 14 hits over the six games.

.193Batting average of leadoff No. 1 hitters against Kansas City
Leadoff hitters haven’t fared well against the Royals’ pitching this season. This average is 32 points lower than the next best (Pittsburgh, .225). The Royals are also the only team yet to give up a home run to the first batter in the lineup.

2First batters of any inning to score off Yu Darvish
Going into his start against the Tigers last Thursday night, Yu Darvish of Texas had not allowed the first batter of any inning to score this season. In fact, just 10 of 53 had even made it the first 90 feet. That changed in the third inning when Don Kelly of Detroit homered off of the Texas righthander. Detroit shortstop Jhonny Peralta led off the fourth inning with a homer as well. Now 12 of 61 have reached base safely, and just two have scored.

16Scoreless innings for Justin Masterson last week
The Cleveland ace pitched a complete game shutout over the Yankees and followed up with seven shutout innings in a 6-0 win over Seattle. For the week, he threw 16 innings, gave up seven hits, five walks and struck out 20. The surging Indians have won eight of Masterson’s 10 starts this season, scoring a total of three runs in the two losses. Masterson is working on a scoreless innings streak of 19.1 innings.

.509 Miguel Cabrera’s batting average with runners in scoring position
With two outs and RISP, Miggy’s average jumps to .600. It’s no wonder he’s a candidate to win a second Triple Crown this season.

.077Martin Prado’s batting average with runners in scoring position
Among batters with as many as 35 ABs this season, Prado owns the lowest average. But it’s still early and this is a relatively small sample size, so expect this number to climb. The Diamondbacks are in first place despite this deficiency.

5Starts of 8+ innings and three or less runs for James Shields
Kansas City’s James Shields continues to get saddled with tough losses. He’s gone eight innings in his last three starts, given up a total of five runs (four earned) and is 0-2 during that time. Shields has pitched eight innings or more five times this season, giving up three runs or less each start. For his efforts, the team has rewarded him with an 0-3 record in those games.

2St. Louis Cardinals batting .400+ with RISP
There are a scant nine hitters with as many as 35 ABs batting .400 with runners in scoring position. Matt Holliday of St. Louis ended the week at .444. Teammate Allen Craig stood at an even .400. The Cardinals are the only team with two at or above the .400 mark.

14-9Baltimore’s road record this season
The Orioles ended the week as the only team with a winning record on the road and a losing mark at home (9-11).

15Times since 2010 Jaime Garcia has left a game with a lead, but didn’t win
The St. Louis lefthander has had the toughest luck of any pitcher in baseball since 2010 with his bullpen holding leads. He’s left with a lead 15 times, only to see the advantage — along with his win — disappear.

.149Opponents batting average vs. Matt Harvey
The young New York Mets’ ace has held hitters to a .149 average, the best in the majors this season.

.369Opponents batting average vs. Vance Worley and Joe Blanton
Hitters are feasting on Worley and Blanton this season.

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